April 22, 2009

Our [bumbling] D.H.S. chief

Janet Napolitano, our esteemed head of the Dept. of Homeland Security who helped conjure up that neat little memo that warned of returning veterans and other nasty conservatives becoming potential domestic terrorists, has a ... rather unique view on illegal immigration:

What we have to do is target the real evil-doers in this business, the employers who consistently hire illegal labor, the human traffickers who are exploiting human misery. And yes, when we find illegal workers, yes, appropriate action, some of which is criminal, most of that is civil, because crossing the border is not a crime per se. It is civil. But anyway, going after those as well.

But then, while Napolitano was calling for stricter border security -- while noting our northern border -- there was this:

In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC, Ms. Napolitano attempted to justify her call for stricter border security on the premise that "suspected or known terrorists" have entered the U. S. across the Canadian border, including the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack.

So, crossing the border is "not a crime per se" -- it's "civil" -- but we need stricter border security because of potential terrorism! Oh.

And by the way, Napolitano couldn't even get the 9/11 facts right. Not one of the 9/11 terrorists crossed either the Canadian border or Mexican border into the US. They came directly to the US via overseas.

Hold on, didn't the Millennium bomb plotter try to enter the US via Canada? (Googling) Yep, Ahmed Ressam was caught with a trunk full of bomb making gear at Port Angeles in 1999, after driving off the ferry from British Columbia. He and two others were planning to blow up LAX.

So there's a kernel of truth to what Napolitano is saying, in that it's easier to enter Canada from overseas than the US, making it more important to control our northern border as well as our southern border.